


Two Minutes After Midnight

by telperion_15



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-24
Updated: 2010-05-24
Packaged: 2017-10-09 17:00:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/89662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/telperion_15/pseuds/telperion_15
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's midnight, New Year's Eve, and Rodney has no one to kiss.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Minutes After Midnight

“Five…four…three…two…one…_Happy New Year!_”

Rodney looked around as everyone cheered, noticing not a few celebratory kisses in progress. Ronon and Teyla seemed to be entering into the spirit of the Earth holiday rather enthusiastically, Beckett and Cadman were looking entirely too cosy, and Elizabeth was blushing as Zelenka gave her a gentlemanly peck on the cheek.

Sheppard was nowhere to be seen, although Rodney suspected that if he were to check a life-signs detector, he would discover the colonel in the Atlantis equivalent of a maintenance closet, celebrating in his own way with one of the half a dozen or so women that had been panting after him _this_ week.

Of course, Rodney himself was alone. No one seemed to find him a very attractive proposition for a New Year’s kiss. Even Katie Brown had abandoned him, he reflected bitterly, spying her on the other side of the room entangled with one of her fellow botanists.

He looked around again. Was he imagining the pity he saw on a few faces, the derision on others? He didn’t know, but suddenly he felt a keen desire to be _properly_ alone. Snagging another beer from the buffet table, he pushed past another entwined couple, and headed for the relative quiet of the hallway, and then out on to one of Atlantis’s many balconies.

The Lantean moon was full tonight, casting a gentle radiance that made the city glow, and tipped all the wave-tops with silver. But the inherent romance of the scene only made Rodney feel more depressed, and he took a gulp of his beer, sighing heavily.

“Hey, there you are. Whatcha doing out here?”

Lost in his thoughts, Rodney hadn’t heard the door swish open again, and Sheppard’s voice startled him badly enough that he nearly dropped his beer, the bottle sliding through his fingers until he quickly tightened his grip and halted its downward progress.

He scowled at Sheppard as the colonel came to stand by his side. “I needed some air,” he said shortly. “Not everyone’s a party person, you know.”

Sheppard gave him a frankly disbelieving look, and Rodney’s scowl deepened.

“Okay, if you must know, I was feeling like a bit of a third wheel,” he snapped. “Or should that be fifty-third wheel? Anyway, I decided to leave before my patheticness brought everyone else’s mood down.”

“Ah.”

Rodney waited for the mocking joke that was sure to come, but when it didn’t he turned away hurriedly to survey the view again, suddenly embarrassed. “Where were you, anyway?” he asked, to cover his confusion. “You missed the countdown.”

“One of the short straw techs thought they’d seen a blip on the long range sensors. Turned out to be nothing.”

“Oh, so you weren’t…” Rodney bit off the sentence before he could finish it, mentally cursing his runaway mouth.

“Weren’t what?”

“Nothing. Never mind.” But Rodney could tell from Sheppard’s narrow-eyed, faintly amused expression that he knew exactly what the question would have been.

“Yep, sadly the countdown isn’t all I missed,” Sheppard said melodramatically.

“Well, why don’t you go back to the party? I’m sure you’ll be able to find someone willing to pretend it’s midnight all over again,” Rodney responded bitterly.

“And why would I do that?”

“You just said…”

“No, I mean, why would I want to go back to the party? That’s not the only place there’s people.”

“What, are you planning to brighten one of the techs’ evenings instead? Well, why not? I’m sure they’d welcome the excitement.”

“McKay…” Sheppard sounded exasperated, as if he thought Rodney was being deliberately obtuse, and irritated, Rodney turned to face him, his annoyed “What?” already forming on his lips.

And that was when Sheppard leaned in and kissed him.

It was fast, just a quick press of lips on lips, and over before it had even really begun, but nonetheless it stopped Rodney in his tracks. _What the hell…?_ For once, he couldn’t think of a single thing to say.

“Well, you said you didn’t get your midnight kiss,” Sheppard offered sheepishly, when it became apparent that Rodney wasn’t going to start yelling at him right away. “Or did I misunderstand that part?”

Rodney pulled himself together. Sheppard looked like he was going to flee at any second, and he couldn’t let that happen. “No, you didn’t misunderstand,” he said hoarsely. “But, um, why…?”

“I wanted to,” Sheppard replied simply. He leaned in again a little, and almost involuntarily Rodney tipped his face up. “And I want to again,” he continued quietly. “If you do, that is…”

“Oh, er, yes, of course,” Rodney said quickly. Suddenly he was a whole lot less bothered by Katie Brown and her botanist friend. “It’s not midnight any more, though,” he added belatedly.

Sheppard smiled, stepping forward and slipping his hands around Rodney’s waist. Just before their mouths came together, he whispered, “Like you said, we can just pretend.”


End file.
